Safety Alerts For Paracetamol Overuse

FDA is recommending healthcare providers to discontinue or limit prescribing medical products that contain more than 325mg of Acetaminophen (Paracetamol) per dosage unit over concerns for increased risk of liver damage due to high or prolonged doses.

In a January post under Safety Alerts For Human Medical Products, FDA states “There are no available data to show that taking more than 325 mg of acetaminophen per dosage unit provides additional benefit that outweighs the added risks for liver injury. Further, limiting the amount of acetaminophen per dosage unit will reduce the risk of severe liver injury from inadvertent acetaminophen overdose, which can lead to liver failure, liver transplant, and death.”

Acetaminophen, commonly known in Australia as Paracetamol, is the main ingredient in analgesic drugs such as Panadol, which is widely available as an over the counter (OTC) drug. In addition, strong dose of Paracetamol is also present in stronger painkilling pills such as many opioid analgesics, often used in pain management and prescribed for patients with chronic pain or for those who require pain control following surgical procedures.

The use Paracetamol containing medications should not be a decision made lightly, simply because many consumers are often unaware that many products (both prescription and OTC) contain Paracetamol, let alone knowing potential adverse side effects with improper use, making it easy to accidentally take too much. This is especially a concern for the aforementioned Paracetamol containing opioid analgesics as they pose the chance of drug dependency, further increasing risk of liver failure.

Sydney Laser Health Solution would like to recommend Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT), made available through advanced medical laser technology, and following numerous double blind, placebo controlled clinical studies, as an effective alternative therapeutic method for pain management. LLLT takes a non drug approach in pain treatment (hence minimises the possibility of adverse side effects), its mechanism instead relies on laser light irradiating and stimulating injured cells, to achieve activation of a series of physiological response to achieve the goal of pain relief, tissue healing and more efficient immune response.